And now summer is over...part one of I don't know because I am a sucky blogger.

Here's a recap:
We went on a lovely road trip to Utah at the end of July. Our end goal was my brother-in-law's wedding in Manti, Utah, but we went via a few waypoints.

First off, we drove up to Dallas for Andy to work at a weekend conference on Friday, July 19th. I was able to see TWO great family friends (thanks to Ally Black and family for letting us crash in your gorgeous home; thanks to the Stephens for a fab dinner and great visiting).

On Sunday, the 21st, we had our furthest drive of the whole trip: from Dallas to Tucson Arizona. Fortunately, I am a KILLER AWESOME roadtrip packer, plus also my kids are fantastic road-trippers, and including the fact that Andy can drive like a trucker which is great because I fall asleep in the car after about 30 minutes, so it was a GREAT day. I had the car stocked up with library books, books on CD (which all but Andy loved, but he graciously let us have a few hours of listening every day), washable markers and paper and coloring books, and toys that all fit into these handy lap trays with storage in the sides that the kids were in love with. I got them from Walmart for $6 each, and they were worth triple that for this trip alone. I told them they could take whatever they could fit in the little bins on the sides, so that both limited the amount of stuff to bring (and potentially lose) as well as gave them freedom to choose what they loved most. I also bought them each a pillow pet to serve as both, well, a pillow and, um, a pet. A stuffie. A toy and friend, you know how it is. My kids love stuffies. THIS IS THE FIRST EVER TRIP THAT CLAIRE DID NOT BRING BIG PUPPY, so thank you to Pillow Pets! Okay, and we also had snacks and a trash bin and a map that Charlotte hauls on every trip for the past two years and follows along, and a custom cd made by moi of all my kids fave songs on the radio. That was genius, I say.

We loved the huge cacti of Arizona! We actually pulled over on the side of the highway to take this picture.

After spending a night in Tucson, we headed the couple hours up to Phoenix to spend Monday with my dear Amanda from college and her family. It was great to break up the long days of driving with a day of rest and play and swimming and talkingtalkingtalkingtalkingtalking like old times when we were single and childless and used to try to imagine the day when we would be married and our kids would play together and we would still hang out AND IT WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! We spent that night with Amanda in her home, and then we left the next morning to head on the last leg of our trip straight up to Salem, UT. I sobbed when we pulled away from Amanda's house. Sobbed. Put my head down on my lap, shoulders shaking, scaring the kids sobbed. Who knows when I'll get to see Amanda and her family again? Argh.

Anyway, that reminds me that Claire also did a lot of crying on this trip. It seems that she loves her cousins in Texas and her cousins in Utah/DC so much that her heart is always missing half no matter who she's with. I had to introduce her to the concept that your heart can be in two places at the same time when you love people who are far apart, and it hurts, baby, I know. We cried some more.

ANYWAY again, our drive up to Salem to stay with my cousin Kate was fine. I always find it hard to enter Utah, but this trip was the best by far. Kate's home and family are SO fun and SO nice and SO full of good food (thanks for all the hot breakfasts!). Seeing my aunt and uncle close by there was great. Driving up to North Salt Lake every day to where my bro-in-law Brian lives wasn't even hard after all the hours upon hours of driving we'd done (plus, as I mentioned, Andy did all the driving and I did all the sleeping), which is what we did in order to hang out with Andy's whole family. We did lots of fun stuff, like hike 2 waterfalls, make the wedding cake, visit and visit and visit, get to know my new sister-in-law who is fantastic, watch the cousins (all girls except Gabe, who was a little glum about it) play with Darling Lady who is Brian's and Carrie's girls' hamster, attend the lovely wedding in Manti, throw the reception in Provo, and then meet up with two more girlfriends from college which was a total and unexpected treaty surprise! What a trip! Here are some pictures:

The happy couple exiting the temple to the cheers of the family and some strangers.

Setting up the reception at this green gorgeous park with a mountain in the background that was actually a, wait for it..... shooting range. Super-secure feeling, right?

The coconut wedding cake made by me and Gabe. He was a little hurt that all the cousins were flower girls and he was nothing. This job totally made him feel better about it.

The first waterfall adventure. Apparently Andy took this at the top just after Charlotte looked down and realized how far up she had gotten. I stayed at the bottom in a lawn chair for this one. Thank goodness.

As you can see, it was steep going. Bridalveil Falls

Hiking to Stewart Falls, the second waterfall adventure. These are the famous aspen trees of Aspen Grove up at Sundance. My grandparents' names were carved on one of these trees many moons ago, but I don't know if the tree is still standing.

Stewart Falls. Freezing. Flesh-slicing rocks. We didn't care. We totally ran behind the falls and got soaked and sliced. Andy and his brothers climbed up to the upper falls as well. Crazies.

Totally awesome double rainbow in New Mexico that spanned the entire sky. And you know pictures of rainbows are never as vivid as the real thing, so clearly this thing was incredible.

The kids at Hoover Dam. We ate lunch there on the way up, and it was HOT. You can see the dam in the background.